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The recent growth trajectory at Right at Home, Synergy HomeCare and Nurse Next Door demonstrates that home care franchise networks are still planting new flags on the map.
These providers are executing on bold objectives for growth in 2025 and setting their goals for 2026 – each through a distinct strategic lens. While a geographic focus is key for some home care providers, others are prioritizing franchisee alignment and leveraging savvy marketing techniques to expedite their growth.
At Right at Home, the company sets an annual goal to sell at least 24 new territories. Currently, the company has sold 18 new territories in 2025.
Jen Chaney, vice president of franchise development and sales at Right at Home, explained that the company has a geo-targeted approach to new growth.
“We’ve identified areas in the United States where there are areas that are underserved, and have seniors and adults with disabilities that need the care,” she told Home Health Care News. “We utilize very targeted marketing, meaning we only market in those areas where a Right at Home does not exist. We’re past the point now where we can do just like a blanket ad that would cover all of the [U.S.].”
Omaha, Nebraska-based Right at Home is a home care franchise company with locations across the U.S. and six other countries. The company earned a spot on Entrepreneur’s 2025 Franchise 500 ranking earlier this year. More recently, Right at Home nabbed a spot on the Franchise Times’ top 400 list.
In focusing on new and underserved markets, Right at Home has created geo-targeted landing pages.
“For example, if somebody types in a Google search looking for home care franchises in their area, if they’re in an area where we have an open and available territory, they’re going to get a specific landing page that says, ‘franchise opportunity is available in your market with Right at Home,’” Chaney said.
Along with geo-targeted landing pages, Right at Home also markets its franchise ownership opportunities via social media, YouTube, podcasts and more.
Chaney noted that the company tries to avoid marketing franchise opportunities in areas where Right at Home already has thriving location owners.
Strategies beyond geography
For the past five years, Synergy has been one of the fastest-growing home care franchise companies. The company has been measuring this growth using franchise disclosure documents and zeroing in on units added.
Synergy is a Gilbert, Arizona-based non-medical home care franchise. The company offers companionship services in addition to personal assistance, housekeeping, live-in care and 24-hour home care services. Like Right at Home, the company made it onto Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 list earlier this year.
“We expect that when 2025 is all said and done, we will be the fastest growing franchisor in the home care space,” Charlie Young, CEO of Synergy, told HHCN. “2025 has been a very good year for us.”
Synergy expects to add 80 new units to its franchise network by the end of 2025, according to Young.
As far as strategy, Synergy doesn’t necessarily identify specific markets. Young explained that the company follows the demand.
“From our experience, there is no magic market,” he said. “We have great success in rural markets, in suburban markets and in major metropolitan markets. For example, one of our fastest-growing new franchisees over the last three to four years has been in Sierra Vista, Arizona, which is a very rural market in southern Arizona. Another of our fastest-growing franchisees that joined the system in the last couple of years is in Santa Monica, California, which is more of a major market.”
On its end, Nurse Next Door will have completed 70 transactions by the end of 2025. The company has already set a goal of 105 transactions for 2026, according to CEO Cathy Thorpe.
Thorpe stated that Nurse Next Door’s model can work in virtually any market; this means that the company focuses on finding the right franchise owners.
“We’re looking at, do they have the right work ethic?” she told HHCN. “Are they passionate about the industry? Do they have capital? Most importantly, do they align with our philosophy? Our philosophy is very much about bold kindness and caregiving as a career.”
Vancouver, Canada-based Nurse Next Door is a home care franchise system that operates in the U.S., Canada, Australia and England. The company provides personal care, companionship care, homemaking services, dementia care and more. Like Synergy and Right at Home, Nurse Next Door also appeared on Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 list.
While entering new markets is important to Nurse Next Door, the company also prioritizes growth in existing markets, leveraging its marketing strategies, which include brightly-hued cars with the company’s logo.
“We know that when you have a cluster of franchises in a market, that you’re growing everyone’s business because you’re getting that many more cars on the road,” Thorpe said. “We know those pink cars do a lot for marketing. We know that the power in numbers is just going to help lift everyone.”
Complications and opportunities
Due to the growing demand for a variety of senior care options, especially ones that allow older adults to receive services in the home, larger home care companies aren’t experiencing limitations on their ability to keep expanding through franchise growth.
However, this doesn’t mean that challenges don’t exist.
Young refers to the “ramp-up period” when new franchise owners are trying to build a client base as one of the challenges that impacts the network as a whole.
“We’ve really responded to that by adding more training in advance of their opening,” he said. “We have over 60 hours worth of training that franchisees get. They spend a lot of time in the field, training with other franchisees before they open.”
Synergy has also begun doing pre-marketing to advertise new locations, in markets where this is allowed.
Home care franchise companies are also on the lookout for untapped opportunities. At Nurse Next Door, this means building new revenue streams.
“If providers are only looking at private-pay as part of their business model, I think that there’s a lot of untapped opportunity with those third-party relationships,” Thorpe said.
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